Boys eye Hatch Cup last-eight spot

Wairarapa's Hatch Cup squad for 2009 face the camera.Back row, from left: Dave Finlayson (coach), George Whitehead, Hamish Finlayson (captain), Joseph Robertson, Dhruv Raman, Adam McLennan, Tom Feringa, Jake Hunt, Lindsay Annear (coach).Front row: Sam McLennan, Matt Howard, Bradley Annear (vice-captain), Zac Emerson, Zac Caldwell, Zac Hardie, Dean Gray, Jamie McAnulty. Absent: Dave Caldwell (co-coach).
 
 
Wairarapa are heading to the Hatch Cup primary schoolboys hockey tournament in Invercargill next week with a quarter-final spot seemingly well within their sights.
The Masterton New World- sponsored side have made all the right moves in their lead-up games.
Their last min-quadrangular tourney saw them pitted against stern opposition but they emerged unbowed, beating Wellington 4-1, Horowhenua 4-0 and Manawatu 6-0.
As usual at Hatch Cup there are four pools each of six teams with the top two teams from each pool going through to the quarter-finals
Confronting Wairarapa in pool play will be North Harbour, Wellington, Thames Valley Mid-Canterbury and West Coast and while teams can change dramatically from year to year past history suggests they should be very competitive in each and every one of them.